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LHB Erector Set

December 21, 2006

Q: Now that your record is in the Rolling Stone Top 50, you're no longer under the radar. Are you concerned about the legal issues?

A: I definitely try to limit my comments on that for obvious reasons. So far there have been no issues. I've actually talked to a handful of major labels who are more or less supporting the album and offering to work with me. I think in the future people will realize this style of music isn't hurting anyone. If anything, it's getting people excited about music in general.

I don’t claim that A Charlie Brown Christmas is the pinnacle of jazz artistry. But there is no jazz album that is more universally known and loved in the United States. Most people will crinkle their nose if you slip some Keith Jarrett into you car’s CD player. “Why does he moan like that?” You try to hip folks to Coleman Hawkins over dinner and they’re likely to say, “So, do you mainly listen to really old music?” Cassandra Wilson? “That man’s voice gives me the willies.” Friends who aren’t already jazz nuts may tolerate this stuff, but they rarely applaud it.

But if you ease Guaraldi into a cocktail party, the response is universal. “I love this!” “Linus and Lucy!” People will ask if they can borrow it. If they don’t already have and cherish it.

The Manhattan Transfer ought to get run over by a reindeer for An Acapella Christmas (Rhino). Although aficionados of barbershop quartets (if such people exist) may appreciate the close-harmony arrangements, others will probably find themselves crumpled in a corner, sobbing, by disc's end.